In past centuries the reformer Martin Luther has often been portrayed as someone
who strongly criticized the use of the organ in the liturgy. Indeed Luther
expressed himself negatively about the organ on many occasions. But it is
doubtful whether the reformer from Wittenberg condemned the organ as a
liturgical instrument on principle.
Some negative remarks about the sound of the organ should perhaps be ascribed to
the imperfect development of the instrument in the area of Germany where Luther
lived, rather than to a principled rejection of organs. But Lutherís negative
remarks about the organ had more a theological than an audiological background.
Lutherís criticism was not directed so much at the organ itself as at its misuse
in the Roman catholic liturgies. Moreover, Lutherís negative comments about the
organ date from the beginning of the reformation, before he worked on the
reformation of the liturgy in Wittenberg. In later years the reformer appears
even to have stimulated good use of the organ in the liturgy.